REPRODUCTION NOTES – 2

SEXUAL REPRODUCTION PLANTS

Flower structure

Flowering plants reproduce sexually through a process called pollination. The flowers contain male sex
organs called stamens and female sex organs called pistils or carpel. The male and female sex cells
produced from the male and female sex organs must meet for reproduction to begin

 The male gametes are contained in the pollen grains produced in the anther.
 The female gametes (egg cells or ova) are produced in the ovule found in the ovary.

Pollination

Pollination is the act of transferring pollen grains from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma.
The aim of most living organisms, including plants, is to produce offspring for the next generation. One
of the ways that plants can produce offspring is by making seeds. Seeds contain the nutrition and all
the genetic instructions to grow into an adult plant.
There are two types of pollination:

 Self-pollination: The pollen grain lands on the same flower it originated from.
 Cross-pollination: The pollen grain lands on a different flower to the one it originated from.
 Wind and insect pollination

As plants cannot move like animals they must adopt a different method of transferring these pollen
grains.

 Wind-pollinated plants let their pollen blow in the wind and hope that their pollen grains reach another
plant for pollination.
 Insect-pollinated plants use insects and other animals to carry their pollen grains to other plants.

The vast majority of plants depend on animals to transfer the pollen for them. 'Insect-pollinated'
includes plants which are pollinated by birds and other small animals.

Insect-pollinated flowers are different in structure from wind-pollinated flowers.

This grass is pollinated by the wind; the flower is being pollinated by the hummingbird
 Importance of insects in pollination

Many crops depend on pollination by insects to survive. Bees, butterflies, beetles, moths and flies are
all pollinators. Without them, food security would be threatened and there would be a worldwide
shortage of fruit; especially apples, plums and pears. Many plant species could also decline or
become extinct along with the organisms that directly or indirectly depend on them.

Bees are facing many threats globally. These include habitat loss, climate change, toxic pesticides and
disease. The culmination of these makes an unpredictable future for bees and many other pollinators.

What is fertilisation?

Fertilisation is the joining of gametes.

 Pollen is the male sex cell in a plant.

 Pollen grains land on the stigma with the help of the wind, water, insects or animals.
 A pollen tube then grows down through the style to the ovary.
 The nucleus from the male sex cell then moves down the tube to join with a female sex cell (an ovule) in
the ovary.
 Fertilisation is when the two nuclei join.
 Fruit and seed formation

Fruit comes from flowering plants, and it is grown in the following process:

 The ovary develops into a fruit.

 The ovary wall becomes the rest of the fruit.
 Each fertilised ovule forms a seed.

Parts of the seed

A seed has three main parts:

 Embryo: the young root and shoot that will become the adult plant
 Food store: starch for the young plant to use until it is able to carry out photosynthesis
 Seed coat: a tough protective outer covering

Germination
Contents of the ovule become the food source for when the plant starts to grow or germinate. The
seeds will often lie dormant until the conditions around it are just right for germination. Factors such as
temperature, concentration of oxygen in the air and water will affect germination.
Seed dispersal

Seed dispersal is the transport of seeds from the plant to another area in order to grow.

These are the main ways in which seeds can be dispersed:

 Animals
 Explosion
 Wind
 Water
 Seeds must be dispersed or spread away from each other and from their parent plant. This is to reduce
competition between one another and increase their chances of survival.

Plants compete with each other for resources including:

 Light
 Water
 Space
 Minerals in the soil

Dispersal method Description Example

Some plants use hooks on their fruits. These attach themselves to

Cocklebur, goose
Animal (exterior) the fur of mammals or feathers of birds and get carried from one
grass, burdock
place to another.

Fleshy fruits are eaten by animals. The seeds are then dispersed
Tomato,
Animal (interior) after passing through the digestive system of animals that have
raspberry, grape
eaten the fleshy fruits.

Hard nuts are usually destroyed if chewed or eaten. However,

Animal (burial) animals such as squirrels may store them to eat later and forget to Acorns
go back to get them, giving them a chance to germinate.

Explosion/self-
Have a pod that bursts open when ripe, throwing the seeds away Pea pod
propelled

Some plants have seeds that act as parachutes, which are carried
Wind Dandelions
away by the wind

Some seeds are winged. They spin like helicopters as they fall from Maple fruits,
Wind (spinning)
the tree, providing a longer time for dispersal by wind. sycamore

Some plants grow near rivers, lakes, streams or oceans. Their fruits Coconut, silver
Water
or seeds fall from the plant and are carried away by the water. birch, willow